It's not a huge surprise Ford has kept most of the police car market even after the Crown Victoria was discontinued. But what looked like the heir apparent, the Taurus in a police uniform, is being outsold by the Ford Explorer-based Police Interceptor Utility. America loves its SUVs.

If you think about it, because the current Explorer and the Taurus share lots of pieces under the skin, the Police Interceptor Utility is like a Taurus Wagon with some ground clearance. And that makes sense if you don't know where your day as a cop will take you, especially with stuff like all-wheel drive and a big liftgate so you don't have to wedge equipment into the small trunk opening on a Taurus.

And if you're GM or Chrysler or whoever wants to get into the police car business, a crossover could be a sound way to drum up some business.

All of this makes me think about is how the CHP didn't want Volvo V70s more than a decade ago because they were soccer mom cars. Funny, it turns out law enforcement isn't worried about a soccer mom stigma anymore.